The invention relates to a method of securing an optical fibre to an electronic package and in particular, but not exclusively, a low-temperature co-fired ceramic electronic package, and to an optical fibre termination arrangement produced by such a method. The invention also relates to the bonding of a glass member to a metal seal.
Various methods for joining optical fibres to electronic packages are known, one method being to use a tube into which a metallised fibre is sealed. This tube is then soldered or laser-welded into a second tube that protrudes into the package. The soldering operation is carried out using a modified soldering iron with solder being fed into the heated tube while the optical fibre is aligned with a receiver diode in association with which the fibre is to work.
There are several drawbacks with this soldering method. These are:                A significant amount of room needs to be left in the package for soldering-iron access.        The tube takes time to heat up due to the thermal conductivity of the package.        There is a risk of damaging internal on-board components due to the heat of the iron.        A high level of manual skill is required to properly manipulate the hot iron within the package.        
The method is currently limited to the use of metal packages.                Due to the use of two tubes, there are two joints from which leaking can occur.        It can be difficult to achieve hermetic seals.        The tube tends to heat up unevenly.        